She Was Human Too
by Imagen99
Summary: At the one year anniversary of Voldemort's end, Minerva McGonagall is feeling the loss. The Golden Trio help her to see that she is appreciated.


_I Own Nothing! My favourite type of fanfiction is the Minerva/trio family fics. They're really isn't enough out there…__**Hint hint. **_

Minerva McGonagall looked on with pride at her students, as she resided at the front of the great hall, in her headmistress's seat. Her eyes swiftly scanned all of her former students, some now adults, celebrating the one year anniversary of the end of Voldemort's reign. There were various couples, groups and singles mingling with each other, chatting, dancing and enjoying themselves. They were all so happy, so comfortable with each other. Suddenly she felt the urge to join in, to talk and be happy with them, not as their teacher, but as a friend, or maternal figure. But she knew that her mere appearance as the stern transfiguration teacher would immediately cause them to tense and the atmosphere would immediately become awkward. They deserved to have as much fun as they could after all they had been through. She wouldn't begrudge them that.

Minerva briefly remembered the instance in which she had found out what the majority of students thought about her. She had been in the staffroom, shortly after her stay in ST Mungos, and Severus had sidled up to her, the usual sneer clear on his face.

"_Minerva." he drawled, bringing a false smile to her lips she muttered a greeting before moving to talk to Filius. His hand stopped her. "I merely wished to inform you that your Gryffindors are quite delighted to have you back." This brought a genuine smile to her lips, and her heart felt warmer. _

"_That is good to know, thank you Severus." His lips curled at her smile, and he continued. _

"_Yes, quite a few of them were so glad to have the great Minerva McGonagall back here again. The strong, stern wall that would keep Umbridge at bay was what they referred to you as I believe. Yes their stone cold head of house could certainly put the toad in her place." My smile faltered for a moment, and I paused. _

"_Well that is lovely to hear Severus, I am sure that your snakes would feel the same about their…What was it? Oh yes, 'greasy bat of the dungeons'." She smiled serenely at the potion master's almost imperceptible frown and moved on to discuss how her first years were getting along with Rolanda…_

Severus and she had never had the best relationship, what with her completely disagreeing with his teaching methods, and he disliking her constant defence of her pupils. But he wouldn't lie to her. And it was shortly after, when she had mulled he conversation over in her mind, that she realised what it had meant.

As Neville Longbottom twirled rather gracefully with Hannah Abbot on the dance floor, she pondered on what exactly her students thought of her. She had often received the impression that they thought of her as a steadfast barrier, always there to protect and guide. But did they think of her as caring? For Minerva did care, very strongly for their wellbeing and happiness. Sometimes, she just felt like they forgot she was human, she had emotions too…

"Professor?" A small voice shook her out of her reverie. She turned, and it was one of her second years, shaking like a leaf. Minerva answered in her gentlest voice.

"Yes dear?" Apparently that wasn't enough. The child started to stutter.

"W-w-well we- I mean I- was wondering w-w-whether it would be al-alright for us to go d-d-down…" The poor child was cut off by an older student, who thankfully took over.

"A few of the younger ones wanted to ride on the Hippogriffs, they'd be with a responsible older student-of course- and we wanted to check first. Is that alright professor?" Hermione Granger. She was the brains of the golden trio and the pride of many teaching careers. Even hers.

She looked at the shaking first year, a burning ice encasing her heart. "Yes, as long as a teacher and at least two prefects are present." Her gaze was still fixed upon the trembling child. _Am I really that intimidating? Do I scare my students? Do they think me some fierce emotionless creature that simply lives to make their lives miserable?_ She blinked furiously, and then turned to stare blankly at Hermione. "Pardon?"

The young Gryffindor stepped forward. "Professor, is everything okay?" Her arm reached out as if to touch the older woman, but she quickly drew it back.

"Yes, Miss Granger, everything is fine. Go off and enjoy yourself." Minerva smiled, but it felt as crooked as Grawp's teeth.

Hermione frowned, and she tried again. That finally seemed to convince the younger girl, and she led the younger child away slowly. When she was sure that Hermione was no longer looking, Minerva relaxed her guards, and laid back in her chair. Letting out an inaudible sigh, she wondered what it was about her that the students were so scared of. She ignored the feeling of hurt that bled into her heart, leaving that for later, and pondered on what it was that made Minerva McGonagall so terrifying.

As her mind wondered she cross examined every decision she had ever made, every sentence she had ever spoken and every look she had ever given. Her mind was a swirl of thoughts and emotions, the only outward sign of this in her eyes. She longed for Albus to talk to, as he was one of the few she ever truly relaxed around. But then the familiar ache of loss engulfed her as she remembered that she wouldn't be seeing his twinkling blue eyes for a while.

However, there was one other person watching her closely. Harry saw the familiar ache of being alone shining in her eyes, and he quietly observed the way in which she brushed off Hermione's concerns. He was just about to go and talk to her when Ron appeared beside him, and followed his line of site to their head of house. "You alright mate?"

Harry sighed "Yeah, it's just….does McGonagall look ….sad to you?" Ron turned and scrutinized her, after a moment's deliberation, he turned back to Harry.

"Yeah, she does, but really what else do you expect mate? With Dumbledore and everyone dead this celebration is probably bringing up painful memories, and no one has really gone to talk to her have they? She's just sitting there on her own, wallowing in the memories." Harry looked at Ron, surprised and asked why she simply didn't just go talk to someone. "Seriously Harry? I have learnt some things from Hermione you know….McGonagall probably feels like she's too much of a teacher. We've known her for years Harry, and we still see her as our head of house, she probably knows that. And you of all people know that when you're sad you only really ever want a friend…" Ron fell silent, and the both of them briefly thought about all of the reasons they had to be sad.

Harry blinked; the fact was that Harry had always considered McGonagall to be the ever resilient Gryffindor head of house. She was the one who would always carry on, who never needed help and who would always be there to support them. The idea that she was in was a foreign thought and it pain troubled him. Harry frowned, and turned to Ron. "Well I don't like it, she should be enjoying herself." Ron looked puzzled, and a little apprehensive.

"What do you want to do then?" Harry muttered a quick instruction to get Hermione, before walking purposefully up to the formidable witch.

"Professor?" She looked at him through her glasses, all trace of sadness gone.

"Yes Mister Potter?" He quirked an eyebrow at her.

"I was just wondering if you were alright? You looked a bit…off a few moments ago."

McGonagall sniffed, and quickly rebuffed his question. "I assure you that I am quite fine Mister Potter."

"Professor?" Hermione and Ron were walking up to her. The elder woman stiffened, and her temper rose, bubbling up like a volcanoes' magma.

"I have already said that I am perfectly fine, now will you please let me be! I don't understand why you must incessantly bother me!" The moment the words were out of her mouth she regretted them. The look of hurt that flashed across the three's faces was heart breaking. She started to reach her hand out, but Ron stepped away.

"Fine! I'm going." He stormed off outside of the hall. Minerva watched him go, regret written all over her face.

"Are you just going to watch?" Harry's voice was colder than usual. She looked at him, confused. "He's just tried to help you, and you snap at him? At us? I know you don't like to be seen as 'weak' Professor but we were only trying to help." And with that he quickly left too, searching for Ron.

This left Minerva feeling shocked, and cold. She reached out a hand at his retreating figure, only to have it covered by a much more feminine one. "Professor he doesn't mean it, he's just upset too." The esteemed headmistress looked down, ashamed. Not knowing what to do, she subconsciously drew the hand towards her and placed a soft kiss on it.

"I know. I'm sorry." Minerva wondered what she could do to apologise, she finally decided on the old-fashioned way. She stood, and let go of the hand. "And I think I also owe the two of them an apology too…Will you accompany me?" Hermione smiled softly and followed her out of the hall.

For a long while it had seemed that Ron had ran a fair distance, an Hermione had to look more than once at her newly completed 'Golden map' property of the 'Golden trio'. The three had spent the summer after the battle constructing three of them, so that when Hermione returned to the school eventually they could communicate and know where the others were. The map detailed the school grounds, and much like the marauders map, showed all of the hiding places. It also contained a protean charm, and a small device which contained a paper version of Molly's clock. Needless to say, the staff had been very willing to help and were impressed at the end result. They were set to make their own version for each head of house to look after their charges. It would certainly make their lives easier.

Minerva continually thought of how much easier her life would've been if she had had one. Then she rounded another corner, coming to the Gryffindor common room. She hesitated before going in, but too soon Hermione went ahead for her and spoke the password.

"Braveheart."

As the door opened and Minerva gracefully stepped through, she was aware of the boy's eyes on her. She felt sick, but went on anyway.

Hermione went to stand together with Harry and Ron, smiling at her encouragingly. The younger girl took both boy's hands, and Minerva marvelled at their close bond. Harry simply looked wary, whilst Ron looked like he was hurt, but trying to hide it. Several time Minerva tried to speak, but found her throat clogged. In the end, she summoned her Gryffindor courage and took a deep, relaxing breath. "I…I wish to apologise. You only showed concern to me and I should not have berated you." She looked at them and saw that Ron was looking less hurt and Harry's eyes were no longer wary. Hermione mouthed a quick 'go on'. "Thank you for your concern, I was just …cautious about showing my….sadness in front of the entire school." Hermione was at her side in an instant, but didn't touch her.

"Why are you upset? We only want to help." Before Minerva knew what was happening she was overwhelmed by looking into the three sincere faces of her favourite pupils, and then she was crying into a small shoulder.

"Shh…it's okay, why don't you sit down."

"Uh…I'll get a cup of tea shall I?"

Then a warm beverage was being pressed into her hands, and she found herself being covered with a soft tartan blanket and sitting with her feet propped up on a comfortable footstall. She felt the warm presence leave her head and her three former pupils joined her, sitting opposite on a couch. Only a small sentence escaped her mouth. "How..?"

"Ron went to make a cup of tea, Harry conjured the blanket, and I created the seat and footstall. Are you feeling better now?" All her mentor could do was nod dumbly. There was a moment of silence that was broken by Ron sneezing.

"Would you like to talk about it?" This time Harry asked the question, his face full of sympathy. This annoyed the headmistress, but she reminded herself that they were only trying to help. A thought flickered into her mind. _Maybe it would help…_ She decided to give the idea a go.

"I was merely thinking about Albus, and his untimely departure." To her horror her lip started to quiver again, but it was stopped by Hermione rubbing her shoulder and Ron patting her hand awkwardly. "Albus was one of the few people I could rely on. He was one of my few friends; you could say that we were as close as you three. This whole celebration reminded me of how…" Minerva trailed off, horrified that she'd almost opened her heart completely to the teens.

Ron raised an eye brow, and smiled sadly. "It's okay; you don't have to say it. But….you aren't alone. I hope you know that. You do after all; have the whole of Gryffindor ready to defend you, and the teachers to talk to." At first Minerva was shocked at the boy's insight, but briefly realised that he must have experience with hiding emotions. She laughed bitterly at the end of his sentence.

"They merely see me as a co-worker. I've known most of them since they were children, and the children only see me as their strict, spinster head of house." The last part was bitter, and accompanied by a fake laugh. It was also met with protests from all three of her company.

"I'm sure that if you opened up a little-"

"We never thought that!"

"I don't think that." The last part made her pause, and she looked into Harry's eyes and say the truth clearly displayed. The other two quickly agreed, and Hermione argued their point.

"Professor! No Gryffindor has ever thought that, we loved you! You didn't see us after yo-you got attacked by that awful woman, the whole tower was in tears once it sank in. No one slept soundly."

"And you weren't there to witness our revenge- even Hermione joined in on pranking her!" Both sentences shocked her.

"Pranking Dolores? What do you mean?" Ron smiled evilly, and proceeded to give her a long list of pranks that her students had pulled in her name.

"…And then Lee suggested we make the toads hop out of her food, so Harry convinced Dobby to let us near the food and Hermione charmed it so that when she ate it…." He trailed of laughing, and Minerva felt her lips twitch upwards into a genuine smile.

"Didn't you get our card Professor?" Hermione asked. The elder woman blinked. "We sent one to you with our names singed in it, and a picture of the common room." Minerva remembered it clearly, that picture was now present on her desk in her office.

"I…I assumed that Albus had made you…"

"No. It was Lavender's idea." Minerva was shocked, she truly hadn't known. Her eye started to tear up and she blindly reached out for the three. Once she found them she brought them into a hug, which was returned, albeit they seemed a bit shocked. Pulling back, she looked each of them in the eye and said told them how proud she was of them after saying thank you.

Hermione wiped her eyes, and the boys turned away, looking at the ceiling and blinking furiously. The room was then enveloped in a comfortable silence, which was broken by Minerva asking them what they were going to do with their lives now.

The rest of the night was spent pleasantly chatting away, and there were many cups of tea before the four eventually drifted off.

Minerva woke, feeling disorientated as she wondered where she was. Suddenly it came back to her, and she moved, suddenly feeling her back ache. Realising she had fallen asleep; she looked over to her company and saw that they too had fallen asleep. Smiling at the tenderness of the scene she drew out her wand and sleepily conjured three separate beds for them, before transfiguring their clothing and levitating their bodies to a different bed. She tucked them in, and felt quite motherly when she kissed each of their heads before walking up to the common room door. She stopped, and considered going to her own dorms, before discarding the idea and conjuring a fourth bed for herself. She fell asleep again, watching the three as they slept, thanking Merlin that they were all safe, and that they had had their conversation which made her heart feel fuller.

She woke up that morning to see the beds closer than they had been the night before, and smiled softly before waking the three up. Things were at first slightly uncomfortable, but the four soon warmed up again at breakfast.

Every 6th of June for Minerva was from then on spent with the three, and Minerva was inexplicably pleased when they grew closer and closer. She received her first mother's day card from them two years later, and had received one ever since. A new tradition was started in the school, the 'head of house' day, where students spent time with their heads enjoying themselves. All in all Minerva never felt unloved again. In fact, she felt more loved than ever, with a hole in her heart that was previously empty, filled to the brim by the three loving children.

_Good? Bad? Awful? I'm really not sure, so if you read please leave a review. _


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